Drug charges filed in death of NIU student who fell from dorm

Three west suburban men have been charged with selling the drugs that played a role in the death of a Northern Illinois University student killed in a fall from his dormitory, according to the university.

Late last week, NIU said its campus police arrested the three men, two of whom were NIU students when Timi Okedina, 19, died in September after falling 11 stories from a residence hall.

The three charged are Michael Kielhack, 20, of Elgin; Michael Montgomery, 19, of Naperville; and Thomas Quirke, 19, of Aurora. All three were charged with two counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, according to the university.

A Northern Illinois University student died from injuries he suffered in a fall from the 11th floor of a dormitory, according to an autopsy conducted Tuesday, but officials did not release additional details about the death, which remains under investigation.

Oluwarotimi Okedina, 19, a sophomore,...

Kielhack, who was arrested Friday at his dormitory, and Montgomery, who was arrested Thursday at his home, were NIU students at the time of Okedina's death, NIU said. Quirke, who turned himself in to NIU police Friday, was never a student at the school, according to the university.

Authorities said the three played a role in supplying the LSD that led in part to the accidental death of Okedina.

The sophomore geology student fell from one of the Stevenson Towers residence halls on the night of Sept. 26, and an autopsy later showed the presence of LSD and marijuana in his system. His death was later ruled to be accidental.

Okedina, who came to the U.S. as a child from Nigeria, was a former Des Plaines resident and a graduate of Maine East High School in Park Ridge.

All three of the men charged have posted bond and were released, an officer at the DeKalb County Jail said Monday.

A version of this article appeared in print on November 12, 2015, in the Niles Herald-Spectator section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Drug charges filed in death of NIU student" —
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